Essay

Philadelphia was the commercial and cultural hub of the British colonies and is indelibly linked in Americans’ minds as the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the writing of the US Constitution.

Glossary Term – Event

John Pickering, a judge of the District of New Hampshire, and Samuel Chase, a Supreme Court justice, were impeached when President Thomas Jefferson led an effort to remove Federalist judges from office. Pickering was convicted and removed from office on March 12, 1804, but Chase was aquitted and returned to his position on March 1, 1805.

Glossary Term – Person

Samuel Chase (1741–1811) was a delegate to the Continental Congress (1774–1778) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Though he opposed ratification, Chase was largely responsible for drafting clauses protecting trial by jury and freedom of the press. In 1796 he was appointed justice of the Supreme Court by Washington. Eight years later he was impeached at the behest of Thomas Jefferson, the Republican president, after Chase, a Federalist, spoke out against democratic “mobocracy” from the bench. Chase was not convicted, however,...